Wraith
by thedemonandtheangel
Summary: Loosely based around the events of Arkham Asylum, I basically wanted to create a kickass female character. Genevieve Arkham is heir to Arkham Asylum and is back in Gotham following her breakdown in a British boarding school she wants her asylum but her guardian Quincy Sharp has other ideas.
1. Chapter 1

It was raining as the car drove through the tall, dark gates of the asylum. I wasn't a patient, not technically speaking anyway, however I suspected I may as well be. If we were getting technical this was my home, my family legacy, my asylum. My name is Genevieve Arkham and my family founded Arkham Asylum. When my parents died in a plane crash shortly after my 8th birthday the responsibility of my care was given to a rather put out Quincy Sharp, who promptly had me shipped off to boarding school in England so that he could forget about me until he needed to name drop me as one of his great acts of charity at society dinners. What a nice simple plan of his it was until I had to ruin it by inconveniently having a psychotic breakdown resulting in me needing to return, once again, to my home; Arkham Asylum.

The car slowed to a halt in front of the mansion and I stepped out, grabbing my suitcase as I went. Quincy Sharp the great saint that he was, had actually turned up to greet me.

"Welcome home Genevieve!" Welcome indeed. He seemed about as happy to see me as a snob does a tramp.

"So sorry to hear about the incident" the words clearly left a bad taste in his mouth "but where better to get the help you need than here?" I nodded in acknowledgement, not willing to converse quite yet. He gestured me through the door and into the mansion, as the doors closed behind me couldn't help but feel trapped, like the majority of the island's inhabitants.

As we entered the mansion Quincy informed me that my old room was still mine and to make myself at home before leaving to do more important things. I didn't mind, alone was far better than his slime like company. Despite having not been home in years I still had perfect recollection of every nook and cranny of the island, like the back of my hand. My room, like the rest of the mansion, was lavishly furnished however it's lack of an occupant for years meant that it didn't have much of a personal touch, that would soon change. I quickly set about setting up my laptop and screen system, hacking the asylum's security network was alarmingly easy and I made a mental note to sort that out when I took charge of my inheritance. A date that should only be about a year away on my 18th birthday however Quincy no doubt was scheming a way to keep the place in his clutches at this very moment. Something I was not planning on allowing. The screens quickly burst to life as scenes from across the island flashed across the wall. I walked away from the wall and flopped onto the bed, my jet-lag catching up with me.

It was 4 AM when I woke up, and I was feeling energetic,cooped up, and I wanted out. With a cursory glance at my screens to check that Quincy was indeed asleep I cautiously made my way out of the room. Now as stupid an idea as it was, I wanted excitement and how better to find excitement in an asylum at 4 in the morning than taking a leisurely stroll through the penitentiary. The thing about asylums at night is that they are creepy however if that creepiness forms a large part of your childhood it becomes relaxing, because of that the somewhat alarmingly zombie like inmates (and by zombie I mean 28 days later style) didn't frighten me as much as they should have as a passed through that crowded room into a much quieter one. A green glow shrouded the room and gave it an eerie feel, there was only one cell in here and its occupant seemed to be asleep. She had green skin and bright red hair falling down to her waist, her back was to me and I could see the rise and fall of her chest from my position by the door. I got out my phone, which I had linked up to the network earlier and checked up on who this was. Pamela Isley or "Poison Ivy" as she was more commonly known, had herself quite a reputation.

"It's rude to watch people sleep you know" I almost dropped the phone in shock as a silky voice shocked me from my reverie.

"How long have you been awake?" I asked as she turned around to face me.

"Since you entered the room. May I enquire as to why a young meatsack such as yourself is wandering around an asylum in the early hours of the morning?"

"I couldn't sleep"

"And who exactly are you?"

"Genevieve Arkham"

"Ohh so you're the absent Miss Arkham, I heard on the grapevine that your mental health took a turn for the worse." It seemed my condition was common knowledge. "well bearing that in mind, is it really prudent for someone such as yourself to be wandering a place like this?"

"Do I really strike you as the kind of person who has a high regard for personal safety?"

"I suppose not. You are a curious little thing aren't you? I can't help but be curious as to what your motives are."

"Is a little light entertainment really such a questionable thing?"

"A good question, however I believe many of the inhabitants of this building would ask the same thing. Perhaps you're on the wrong side of this glass afterall." I had to give it to her, I had been wondering the same thing. Ivy walked over to stand directly in front of me.

"Tell me Miss Arkham, what exactly are you willing to do to achieve what you want?" a smirk was gracing her lips and I got the distinct feeling that I should be feeling intimidated, but for some reason I just wanted to hear what she had to say.

"I don't understand what you mean..."

"I mean, I am willing to crush humanity in order to allow my darling plants to flourish and grow to their full potential. You claim you want some light entertainment however I think that maybe your true goal is somewhat higher, so i'll ask again. What are you willing to do?" I thought about it.

"I don't know, I guess I need to test myself in order to discover what i'm willing to do." she nodded in contemplation.

"well little meatsack, feel free to visit me again sometime as to inform me of any conclusions you reach, I have found your company to be... interesting." she then turned her back on me and walked away from me to resume her position I had earlier taken for sleep. The conversation was clearly over. I should have been traumatised by my encounter with a mass murdering psychopath and yet instead I just felt calm. Ivy may be eccentric to say the least but at least her voice wasn't grating like the teachers at my old school, at least she wasn't a fake like Quincy. Yes she was dangerous but to be completely frank with you I simply didn't care what became of me, so maybe it made sense that my new confidante was the infamous Poison Ivy, maybe it was no more than I deserved.

I continued to visit Ivy every night that week, our conversations ranged from me bitching about Quincy, to how our sessions with our psychologists had gone to her stories about some of Arkham's livelier residents. That Saturday I brought a small plant in a pot with me.

"since I don't have access to the key to let you out I figured I'd take care of her for you until you get free and can claim her yourself." to her credit Ivy actually seemed kinda touched.

"You really are an odd one aren't you Miss Arkham. Well thank you, it is a sweet gesture." she seemed to be working up to saying something and since I can't stand silences I decided against waiting for her.

"What is it?"

"I was wondering if you would do me a favour"

"depends on the favour"

"I need you to deliver a message to a dear friend of mine."

"Okay that doesn't sound too bad. What's the message and who am I delivering it to?" truth be told but I was glad of the opportunity to explore some more.

"I need you to go to Harley over the other side of the penitentiary and tell her next Sunday." now this sparked my interest.

"My, my Ivy. You aren't plotting something are you?"

"I am not plotting anything. Others on the other hand I cannot vouch for."

So that's how I came to face to face with the door leading to Harley Quinn's cell. It's probably telling that I was excited not scared to meet her, I regularly wondered why I thought the way I did, if I would change the way my mind worked if I could. I tapped in the code and entered the room, as soon as the door closed the bouncy blonde jumped up off of her bed and and skipped to the edge of her cell.

"Well, well. What do we have here then?" she giggled "you know when Red said she would send me the message tonight I was expecting one of those mean ugly guards, but you, you seem fun! What's your name sugar?"

"Genevieve..."

"Ohhhh what a pretty name!" her energy was literally palpable, she reminded me a little of an over excited puppy. "So what's Red's message Curly?" it would seem that like like Ivy her nickname for me was inspired by my hair, which was a mess of black ringlets.

"She says it's on Sunday, whatever that means. So does this mean you're getting out?"

"I dunno if I should spoil the surprise... oh what the hell, since you're here you must be one of us, and 'sides we could do with some more girls on the team!" her happiness was infectious, I liked it. "Okay well a word to the wise, expect some big things to go down next sunday!" she then proceeded to give me a wink, blow me a kiss and skip back over to her bed "Now shoo, Harley' gotta get her beauty sleep!" I turned to leave and just as the the door was closing behind me she called out "Nice meetin' ya Curly!".

I couldn't sleep that night. I was too busy trying to work out what was happening next Sunday, I guess at least something was happening, something is better than nothing right?


	2. Chapter 2

A few days later I was having breakfast in the mansion when I got the not very happy surprise of Quincy walking in and joining me at the table. I had barely seen him since i'd gotten here let alone sat down for a meal with him, it was suspicious and I was dreading finding out the cause of cleared his throat in an incredibly annoying manner and looked at me expectantly waiting for me to look up and acknowledge his presence; like I was gonna give him the satisfaction. I made a point of finishing my toast at a painstakingly slow speed before finally raising my head to look him straight in the eye.

"Oh Quincy, I didn't notice you come in." he glared at me, hatred and contempt perfectly clear in his eyes.

"Quite. I just came to tell you that we are hosting a benefit on saturday and you will be there." I could think of nothing worse than the idea of attending an event full of high society snobs, pretending to care about those less fortunate than them when in fact benefits like this were just an excuse to judge and one up each other.

"No." I wouldn't, couldn't, go.

"Excuse me?"

"I said no. Thank you for the invitation but I will have to respectfully decline." As I said that I got up to leave but just as I was turning away Quincy violently grabbed my arm.

"I think you must be mistaken, Miss Arkham." he said my name as if he were swearing "This isn't an optional event. You will go and you will smile and wear a pretty dress and be oh so happy to tell all the nice people how wonderful i've been to you. Understand?" His grip on my arm was vice like and painful. That did it I was angry now, this jerk wasn't going to control me.

"Since when did I have to do as you told me?" I spat. Evidently this was the wrong thing to say as less than a second after I said that he backhanded me hard across the face.

"You little bitch. The only reason you are even here right now is because the press heard about your breakdown before I could silence it. So you need to suck it up and smile for the cameras, because lets face it who is gonna believe a certified crazy?" My face was stinging from his earlier hit and I was pretty sure it was gonna bruise. I tore free from his grip and ran out of the room.

It wasn't until I was within the safe confines of my bedroom that I broke down and cried, I felt weak, out of control and I hated it. I was so angry I wanted to make him pay. I wanted to go down there now and hit him until my hands were covered in blood.

I couldn't wait until that evening, Ivy was about to receive one hell of a rant. When I entered her room she took one look at the purpling bruise across my face and let out an audible hiss.

"Who did that to you?" I don't think i'd ever heard her so angry , if it had been aimed at me I might actually have been scared.

"Quincy."

"When I get out of here, he will pay." she was actually shaking with rage.

"I just wish I had some way to stop him from doing it again. I felt helpless against him, weak." she looked thoughtful at that.

"I may have an idea. You need lessons in self defence, I would teach you myself but I have my plants to protect will be happy to comply, I was talking to her earlier and she likes you." I nodded and after we spoke a little longer I left in search of Harley.

When Harley saw my face she let out an over dramatic gasp.

"Who beat on you Curly?! Let me at 'im i'll show him no one beats on my girl!" She was quite sweet really.

"Quincy did it" Ivy had apparently been filling in Harley about my private life "Ivy said that you might be able to teach me to defend myself in case he tries it again." the shocked expression on her face turned to one of excitement as she processed this.

"Oh yes Curly, we're gonna have so much fun!" it turns out Harley actually made a pretty good teacher and by the end of the hour I had a basic grasp of some simple holds, dodges and take downs.

This pattern of training continued throughout the week and by saturday I was getting pretty decent. I had been avoiding Quincy systematically by using my security screens to monitor when he was and wasn't in the mansion. I woke up on saturday to find an obviously expensive dress on my bed. It was blue and far too frilly for my liking, a pair of plain black heels were at next to it along with a note that simply said "wear it.". Clearly that evening wasn't going to be very enjoyable.

As I entered the crowded the room that evening the sheer amount of noise was what stunned me, that blended chatter of the hundred or so people rose up and surrounded me, it was unbearable. Quincy spotted me from across the room and motioned me over to the group of impeccably dressed and incredibly rich Gothamites he was talking to.

"Ahhh and here is the young lady herself!" he put his arm around me, i felt ill. "I was just telling these lovely people how well you've been doing." they were all smiling at me, it was unnerving seeing so many people grinning at me like loons.

"We were all so shocked when we heard what happened, but it's simply wonderful to see you back on your feet again!" said a busty blonde in a stupidly low cut dress, she was speaking to me as if I were a child, it kinda made me want to kick her.

"Yes Quincy dear, you are doing such a good job with her, the asylum too!" this one came from a brunette with enough botox to make her look as if she had a beak, like she cared about the asylum. Like any of these people did.

"Well as you would expect I was devastated when I got the news but poor Gen here hasn't been the same since the tragedy with her parents..." Since when was I Gen? As for the "tragedy" how dare he claim to have any emotional connection with the event. He only befriended my parents for the same reason he kept me around; our money. You see the Arkham family line was long and illustrious and resulted in me, the only heir to a considerable fortune. He was now saying something about the new miracle doctor Young, apparently she was revolutionising the field. More big words and a few handshakes later and the doe eyed fools were handing over large cheques.

"you look after yourself now Gen!" this was Botox speaking. She reached out to pat me on the head like some kind of dog, I couldn't take it any more. I jerked away saying "It's Genevieve." and stormed out of the room. From the monitor in my room I could see Quincy making excuses for my behavior, I turned the sound on.

"...still recovering from her episode, and isn't really herself right now. She'll be right as rain soon just you see!" accompanied by a cheery smile. it was sickening really. I locked the door to my room so he couldn't get in. Harley and Ivy knew not to expect me tonight as it would be too risky what with the benefit. When everyone had left that evening Quincy came up to my room and started banging on the door, he'd been drinking.

"Come out you little bitch! You're gonna regret this." followed by a slur of increasingly insulting swear words. Luckily for me he got tired quickly, mostly due to the alcohol, and left me alone.

I didn't leave my room the next day and read whilst listening to the radio to occupy myself, all that day they kept broadcasting updates about some incident down at the mayor's office, it sounded messy to me. I didn't have time to bother with that though, as I had to figure how I was going to deal with Quincy first. He was in his office at the moment, on the phone, he seemed to be having some sort of intense conversation, the kind that goes on for ages and if the pack of asprin the desk next to him was anything to go by his morning was off to a bad start. I decided to take the opportunity to sneak out for supplies, I went down to the kitchen and grabbed a box of cereal to take up with me. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw something catch the light on the table, it was a knife. I shrugged thinking to myself "you gotta do what you gotta do" and grabbed it as I walked by, it was small but sharp and perfectly good for self defense. On my way up the stairs I picked up a newspaper but it wasn't until I reached my room that I saw both my and Quincy's faces on the front. After giving it a quick once over I realised it was an article about my return to Gotham and what a kind deed Quincy was doing taking on someone as damaged as me. He really did have everyone fooled into thinking he was the good warden who could do no wrong. I stuck the article up on the wall and practiced my aim with the knife by throwing it at Quincy's fake smiling face, it was an effective form of anger management. He wouldn't stomp all over me again. Not now, not ever.


	3. Chapter 3

About half 9 that evening a guard turned up at my door, he was big and wore an expression that made stone look cuddly in comparison.

"Warden Sharp says you're to report to his office, no arguments." Now had he been a bit smaller I might have put up a fight but from the look of him I didn't stand a chance and I didn't want to make the situation any worse than it was. So I just gave him a nod and made my way over to the door being careful to make sure I was able to slide the knife into my pocket without him seeing. As we walked towards dear Quincy's office I felt as if I was walking towards my own personal execution, which was preposterous. That old man couldn't kill me, not while the press still saw me as a poor damaged little girl. Not that I was a little girl anymore. I hadn't been for a long time mentally and now at 5,8 I was an average height. not a giant like the guard forcefully escorting me but not short either. It was starting to rain outside and had all the traits of an oncoming storm, what a lovely atmospheric night it was. We turned into the office and Quincy was standing in front of the giant fireplace, one that once had family photos on, back when my parent were still alive now it was completely bare apart from the large portrait of Quincy hanging over it. He truly was a vain bastard.

"Ahhh Arkham come in, sit, make yourself at home." he had a sickly sweet voice put on, this wasn't going to be good. "what can I do for you then?" I was confused. He had called me in here not the other way round.

"You called me here..."

"Yes I did and you know why?" his voice was a threatening low rumble "You're appalling behavior last night. And do you know what is going to happen if you ever pull a trick like that again? huh? Well if you do i'll make sure you are declared so insane that you are a danger both to yourself and others. You won't see the light of day again." that was a low blow, and I could feel my blood boiling.

"You can't do that."

"Really because" He paused to look around "I appear to be in charge of an asylum." He smirked cruelly. That was it. I was fed up of him acting as if I was nothing. I smiled back and a look of confusion flickered across his face.

"Except this isn't your asylum. It's mine and you're just a placeholder until I turn 18 in, oh, 7 months." That ruffled his feathers.

"You think you can take this away from me..." I cut him off. I was talking now not him. I stepped closer to him growing more confident.

"Why yes, I do because it's mine to take. You don't have me fooled like all those simpering saps out there and when I inherit, that is when by the way not if, you will be out the door so fast you won't know what hit you." he was really angry now and we were facing each other down he attempted to grab me by the neck but I dodged it and kicked him in the stomach."ah. ah, ah not this time Warden. I won't be so easy to control anymore." He straightened up and looked me in the eye.

"We'll see." It was a clear threat and some small part of me was excited to hear it. At that moment an alarm went off and we were both distracted. "I have to go and deal with the new inmate, stay here until I get back." He then strode out the room and locked me in behind him. Fabulous.

"Saved by the bell then!" I shouted furiously but he couldn't hear me now, he'd already gone.

I was bored and went over to his security monitor to watch what was going on. It seemed the new inmate was the Joker and Batman himself had decided to accompany him in. At least this would be interesting to watch. I put the stereo on and something loud and relatively heavy started blaring into the room, well Quincy had said to make myself at home. I walked over to a large mirror and looked at myself, my long black curly hair framed my pale face and cat-like green eyes which I chose to emphasize with a lot of black makeup and a small amount of green eyeliner. My eyes were big and currently kind of wild looking due to my anger from the argument, at times like these I actually looked crazy. There was a disturbance on the screen and I looked over to see that the Joker had somehow broken free, that was actually pretty impressive what with batman being there and all, I wondered how he had done I saw Harley she was controlling the security gate, and it clicked into place. This was what the message was about. Joker was saying something about a party and sent some thugs in to slow batman down. How interesting indeed. All over the asylum various prisoners were getting free as Joker took knowing it was wrong I kinda wished I could join in with the fun. Harley destroyed the lift in intensive treatment with her signature giggle and I couldn't help but smile at how happy she looked. I was disturbed from my peace by a couple of Blackgate thugs smashing the door down. They looked at me and grinned.

"Well what do we 'ave here"

"A little kitten, shall we take 'er in for the boss or just make 'er squeal now?" they stepped towards me and one tried to reach for my hair.

"I don't think so." I said whilst tripping him up and pulling out my knife which I quickly plunged into his friend who had tried to sneak up behind me. He let out a scream of pain and stumbled backwards.

"You whore" shouted one on the floor.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" I shouted back, kicking him angrily in the groin. He shrieked in pain and I laughed harshly. "Whore right? That's what you said. Well i'm sorry mister but you picked the wrong girl." I kicked him again and slammed my heel down onto his nose which made a sickening cracking noise and let out a spurt of blood. His friend who I had previously stabbed was backing away towards the door and tried to make a run for it but my aim had improved over the course of the day and I chucked my knife right into his back, he fit the floor with a loud thud. I walked over to him and took his pulse, there wasn't one. He was dead. I took my knife out of his back and walked back over to the other one who was rocking back and forth on the floor crying and cradling his nose.

"Pl-please don't kill me" he whimpered. He was pathetic, it made me sick to look at him, a grown man crying on the floor. I knelt down next to him a smile on my face.

"Oh don't worry I won't kill you right now, why should I when you and your poor dead friend there were planning on keeping me alive for quite a while before killing me?" He looked really scared then. "So what shall we do, hmmm? We could have a little fun or I could put you out of your pathetic misery now like the kind hearted soul I am." He was shaking now.

"Please, please, mercy ,please..." I was bored of him already.

"Oh for the love of god shut up." and with that I plunged my knife into his throat. He made a gurgling, gagging noise for a while before his eyes eventually rolled back into his head and he slumped to the floor dead. I heard a clapping behind me and turned to the door with a start. The Joker was standing there with a massive grin on his face.

"Well , well you must be the one my Harls was telling me about! And very impressive that was too. Tell me Miss Arkham, with that whole island running crazy what do plan on doing hmm? Are you going to make a bid for freedom at the first chance you get or stick around and take in the evening's entertainment?" It was a little like the question that Ivy had asked me when we first met, and although I knew I should be going with the first option and getting the hell out of there I couldn't help but want to stick around.

"I think this could be quite therapeutic. My psychologist is always telling me to push myself you know." He let out a maniacal burst of laughter at that.

"Is that so? Well Harley will be so pleased to hear that! She's on her way here as we speak." and as if on cue I heard her skipping down the corridor at that.

"Puddin'! Did ya find her?"

"Yes dear she's here!" He called back and I heard Harley let out an excited squeak before rounding the corner and attack hugging me.

"It sure is nice to be out of that nasty cell Curly!" she quickly surveyed the room and gave me a proud pat on the back "Looks like you did Harley proud hey, I gotta say the blood splattered look kinda suits you Curls!"

I looked over at the mirror and saw what she meant. My green shirt was soaked through with blood and my hair was a mess, the specks of blood stood out on my face against my pale skin. I seemed older, if significantly more crazy than before. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, besides who's to say that people like us are the crazy ones. Maybe it's all the "normal" people who have something wrong with their heads, not us. Harley came and put her arm around me, we looked at our reflections in the mirror.

"We're gonna have so much fun. We'll be like sisters you an' me!" she said and I couldn't help but crack a smile at that.


	4. Chapter 4

We turned to see the Joker giving us a smile.

"That's my girls!" this was too surreal. "Now to business! Harls dear you know what your next job is?"

"I sure do Puddin'!"

"Now what to do with you lovely Miss Arkham... ah I need you to deliver a message to Jonny boy. Tell him to keep Bats for as long as he possibly can so that we have plenty of time to set up. Oh and don't worry if he's a little grumpy, it's not you he's just one of those academic types you see?" he let out a wheezing laugh "Now if you two could move along I have things I need to be doing!" I turned to look at Harley but she was staring at Joker looking completely in love. I couldn't see anything particularly attractive in him myself, not that I would tell him that, but whatever. Each to their own.

Me and Harley set off down the corridor arm in arm.

"Oh you get to meet Jonny you lucky lady! You two are so gonna hit it off he is such a sweetheart!" I had my doubts about that. I had read his file and I wasn't sure if "sweetheart" was quite the correct term to use when describing Gotham's own master of fear. "But what about you Curly? You need a showbiz name! Ohhh I wonder what you should go with." she assumed a look of deep thought as she pondered her own query. "Oh I know who to ask!" she skipped over to a security camera and started waving at it, if I didn't know she was already bonkers I would have said she'd lost it. "EDDIE! EDDIE WE NEED TO ASK YOU SOMETHIN' IMPORTANT!" she shouted. I was just about to walk away when a cheerful voice burst through the loudspeaker.

"Yes Harleen I heard you the first time!"

"Oh Eddie good to hear from ya! Long time no see ya sound well!" Harley was getting off track so I coughed.

"Harley I believe you were calling me for a reason?" he sounded slightly bemused which was fair enough when dealing with Harley.

"Oh yeah! Me and Curly here were talkin' and I realised that she didn't have herself a fancy showbiz name yet and since you're awful clever I thought you might have some ideas?"

"Well now you come to mention it I have had my eyes on young Genevieve for a while now..."

"I'm sorry, what?!" I had to interrupt because that was just beyond creepy.

"Don't take it personally dear, I make a point of keeping an eye on everyone and besides what exactly have you being doing with that monitor in your room if not the same thing?" he was right of course but I remained indignant. "And as I was going to say, I actually have just the idea."

"Oh tell us Eddie!"Harley was literally on her tip toes by this point "He is very good with words is our Eddie!" she said elbowing me in the sides.

"Why thank you Harley! Now as I was saying I can't help but think that Wraith would suit you pretty well young Genevieve." I thought it over and I could see what he was getting at. My pale skin and black hair combined with my delicate features made me seem quite ghost like and I certainly did my fair share of moping which could easily turn violent.

"Wraith..." I said testing it out loud "I like it."Harley actually jumped for joy at this point which made me laugh.

"I knew you'd come up with just the thing Eddie! Oh Curly you're like a whole new you!" she then gave me a bone crushing hug.

"Just glad to be of service!" Eddie chimed in, clearly feeling rather pleased with himself. "Now as much a I hate to leave you both, you know how it is places to be, Bats to tease!" and the speaker went silent.

And that's how I became Wraith, the psychopathic, knife wielding, teenage, stalker of the night.

Harley and I continued on our way chatting as we went, well I say chatting, it can sometimes be difficult to get a word in edgeways with Harley but it's all part of her charm.

"It's just such a classy name, real classy. Suits you though since you're a classy chic!" I giggled and she passed me the bottle of whiskey he was carrying with her.

"I can't believe I didn't embrace the crazy earlier. I mean why should I change who I am just to fit into their boring confines and rules right?" I was finally free and I was loving every second of it.

"When we get out of here, do ya wanna join me? since you're still new to this, we can get a place together and I can show you the ropes! Hey Red can join us and tell ya what, if I can track her down i'll introduce you to Kitty!" I assumed she was referring to catwoman her sometimes rival sometimes BFF. It seemed I was getting in at the deep end of this pool and I was just lucky to have Ivy and Harley to take care of me.

As we left the mansion we ran into a group of guards, they didn't see us straight off so Harey signalled to me that I should take the two closest to us while she took the two furthest. Before I had a chance to breath she leaped into them and swiftly kicked one in the head alerting them to our presence. I took out my knife and charged my two. who attempted to circle me. I got out of it by sliding through the legs of the slightly taller one and kicking him into his partner. Before they could untangle themselves I calmly walked up behind them and slit the throat of the one nearest me. His partner let out a shriek of shock and started to run away but I quickly closed the distance and cornered him. I grabbed his neck and shoved him against the the wall of the mansion.

"Jerks like you always think they can do what they want and get away with it. Well not anymore." I then stabbed him several times before carving three kissed into his forehead. I heard Harley coming up behind me.

"Nice touch Curly, personal. Ya know I do know a thing or two about the human mind and from a professional point of view i'd say there's a hell of a load of rage behind those green eyes of yours. What happened to you Curly? You can trust me." She was right, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, she did used to be one of the best doctors here after all but I wasn't ready to tell. Not yet.

"I'll tell you one day Harls, I promise." she gave me a comforting smile.

"Pinkie swear?"

"Pinkie swear." I was so glad to have someone like Harley who could tell when something was troubling me but wouldn't push too hard to uncover it. Back at boarding school i'd thought I had a whole group of people I could trust, and for years everything was fine, sure I was bitter at Quincy but I was generally happy. Unfortunately for me it turned out i'd been kidding myself and when things turned for the worse my so called friends turned on me. Shortly after that I had my "breakdown"which mainly consisted of a vague suicide attempt which I abandoned halfway through when I remembered the satisfaction it would give Quincy and how much it would hurt my parents. I missed them. Every day since they died in that plane crash. They were the kindest most loving people you could imagine, they cared about the patients in their charge, the asylum workers on the payroll and most of all they cared about me. Maybe that was why

I had latched onto Ivy and Harley like this. they acted as if they liked me, we were like one messed up sorority, people wouldn't get us but when we were together it didn't matter because we took our strength from each other and didn't need anyone else.

We pretty soon had to part ways though and I made my way into the medical facility. According to the Joker I would find Scarecrow in the morgue or around that area and he knew to expect some kind of messenger. I had read his file but it didn't include a picture of him so I had to go off of what Harley had told me which was that he was was tall, dark and handsome but not as handsome as her Mr J. Apparently he had striking eyes which when people phrased it that way sounded glamorous but speaking as someone who also fell into that category it wasn't all that great. Best case scenario people stared into your eyes too much and fetishized you, worst case they ostracised you as a freak. I ran quickly past several thugs who pretty quickly realised I wasn't to be messed with and went back to guarding the doctors. I ran towards the morgue seeing several luminous green smiley faces along the way. I had to give it to the Joker his idea of interior decor was inspired! As I entered the morgue I collided straight into a hard wall. Except it wasn't a wall it was a bare, skinny, yet well defined chest. I stepped backwards and looked up to find myself looking into a pair of the bluest eyes ever to blue.


	5. Chapter 5

"What exactly do you think you are doing?" his voice was calculating and he pronounced every syllable perfectly, too perfectly.

"Looking for you. I have a message from the Joker."

"Well then tell me and be on your way, someone as clumsy as you will just get in my way"

"No need to be rude you know, anyway he wants you to hold Batman up for as long as possible so he can finish getting everything ready." Crane took a deep sigh and turned to face me.

"When you see that clown again remind him that he doesn't order me around and that the only reason i'm still here is that it serves my purposes." he was grumpy just like the Joker had said however that didn't mean I was taking my orders from him.

"Why don't you tell him yourself? I may have better things to do than deliver messages for you. Ever considered that?" I said walking around to the other side of the mortuary slab he was working on.

"Because, and I realise this must be difficult for your puny mind to comprehend, I am about to deal with the Batman. Something you are perfectly aware of since you scampered all the way here to deliver a message concerning the matter." he had a point but that didn't excuse his tone.

"Well then why would you trust someone like me to deliver the message for you?"

"Sometimes one must deal with limited resources." I was getting fed up with him and turned to leave however I wasn't gonna let him get the last word.I paused in the doorway and turned back around to face him.

"Nice word puny."I had caught his attention and he turned to see where I was going with this "though i'm pretty sure my mind isn't the only thing it could be used to describe in this room." I said looking him up and down before giving him a wink and sprinting from the room.

As I exited the Medical Facility I stopped to lean against a wall to get my breath back. I couldn't resist letting out a rather hysterical laugh, I had just sassed Gotham's infamous master of fear and lived to tell the tale. You had to admit it was pretty funny. I turned to head back towards the mansion, since I wasn't completely sure where Joker would be I figured if I could get back to one of the monitors in there I could work it out, or if all else failed find Harley to ask her.

When I got back to Quincy's office it was deserted, the only sigh Joker had been here was the various bits of graffiti littering the walls. Sighing in exasperation I went over to the monitor to try and work out where people were, it didn't take me long to spot Harley who was currently taunting the police commissioner Gordon, who she had presumably taken captive to create another obstacle for batman. Speaking of the Batman he was currently blundering around the morgue aimlessly while Scarecrow looked on, seems the Batman wasn't as fearless as legend let on.

After i'd been watching Batman's progress for while, he had managed to fight off Scarecrow's toxin and was currently heading to who knows where over the other side of the island. From behind me there was what could only be described as small explosion of confetti and I turned to see that one of those large presents scattered all over the place had burst. Inside it I found some equipment and a note instructing me to use the equipment to rig an explosion in the secret safe by the fireplace the note also contained the instructions of how to do that and a rather crude cartoon entitled "how to make a baby" signed , love and kisses, from the Joker. I had no idea how he knew about the safe but I guessed I shouldn't be surprised as he'd probably been planning this for ages. Since i had nothing better to do I decided I might as well do it and set about rigging the trap, I was pretty pleased with my handiwork actually considering it was my first time and after finishing decided to embellish the safe with one of those Joker smiles using a not completely empty can of spray paint I found lying on the floor.

Once I was done I went back over to the monitor to see how Harley was doing, not as well as she seemed to think unfortunately. She had a gun to Gordon's head and thugs patrolling the room around her but Batman was picking them off one by one and making his way over to her.

"Goddamnit Harley look out!" I shouted in frustration despite the fact she couldn't hear me. As the Bat took out another thug leaving only Harley left I slammed my fist on the table letting out a scream of pent up rage.

"You know, damaging the wood work won't, in fact help dear Harleen." It seemed Eddie had heard me and decided to chip in.

"Thanks for the update, Nygma. Very enlightening."

"You can't stop the Dark knight from getting her however she'll be fine, he'll only knock her out. He never kills." Eddie's disembodied voice informed me in an over dramatic tone. "If you really want to help her i'd recomend you go and get her once he's left." realising what he was saying was true I got up to leave making sure to take the instruction note with me so as not to ruin the surprise.

I spent the entire journey over to Harley fretting over her safety. I mean yes she was a crazy, psychopath but i'd come to care for her and besides if killing people made you a psychopath what exactly did that make me? When I got to her she was collapsed unconscious on the floor, she looked so young lying there, vulnerable.I sat down beside her and started cleaning her cuts from the collapsed glass roof while I waited for her to come around. Fairly soon she started to stir.

"I thought I was the one in the nurse costume?" she murmured weakly, all trace of her accent gone.

"Even nurses need a doctor sometimes" I told her with a small smile, which she returned. When she was strong enough I helped her to stand.

"Let's go find Mistah J" her accent was back, a sure sign that she was recovering. "I just hope he won't be too disappointed with me" she sounded a little upset when she said that so I tried to comfort her.

"I'm sure he'll just be glad to see you up and about!" she perked up a bit at that and gained a bit of a spring in her step.

"So how was Jonny boy? I haven't seen him in ages!"

"Kinda moody, and rude. Is he always like that?"

"Mostly, but it doesn't mean he doesn't like you. he just..." she stopped and leaned in to whisper the next part as if it was some terrible secret "isn't very good at expressing emotions." that was certainly one way of putting it.

"Don't we need to be concerned about a certain winged brute hearing us and swooping in for round two?" I asked as I wasn't too eager to pitch myself against him just yet.

"Oh don't you worry yourself, my Puddin' has got him down with Bane at the moment and that should keep him busy for a while!" well that was a relief to hear at least. I was somewhat surprised to see that we were making our way over to the botanical gardens, they didn't exactly seem like the prime place for Joker to set up shop. However when I asked Harley about it she just giggled and said that it was because the titan factory was in there, she then went on to explain what titan was to me; it sounded nasty. She also made a point of assuring me that the "punchline" wasn't here so not to worry about it spoiling the surprise. I hadn't even thought that far ahead if I was being honest, I was just taking the night one step at a time.

As we entered the Gardens I was reminded of how much I loved the place, part of the reason me and Ivy had hit it off so well was that I loved plants, especially exotic ones. When I was younger my parents would take me for walks in here and play hide and seek with me, I always felt like some bold explorer when we played that. I saw a rose out of the corner of my eye and shuddered, I used to like roses but now... they brought back bad memories. I tried to fight them off but they echoed in my head all the time.

_"shhh it'll be over soon."_

_"why would I lie to you?"_

And of course.

_"you can trust me."_

I quickly looked away before Harley could notice anything was wrong, now wasn't the time.


	6. Chapter 6

Joker was waiting for us when we arrived, he seemed remarkably happy for someone who must have been up for almost 24 hours, then again he was insane.

"Ahhh ladies, welcome to my humble abode, for the time being anyway! Harley dear how's the head?"

"All the better for seein' you again Puddin'!" Harley gushed, skipping over to him.

"And Miss Arkham, thank you for taking care of the safe, nice touch with the spray, simply delightful!" followed by his signature laugh, it was amazing how he managed to make a laugh sound creepy.

"No problem, I was feeling creative! By the way, Crane asked me to remind you that you're not his boss, or something very similar and equally whiney. Whatever it was he was being petulant about it." there message delivered, now Crane could die a happy man.

"Yes Jonny always was a complainer, as long as he does what I need I won't intervene... for now! Since you're both here I'll activate stage two, Harley dear you know what to do." Harley let out a joyful giggle, kissed him on the cheek and hugged me before skipping out of the room. "Miss Arkham I need you to head back over to the Warden's office, Zsasz is holding Doctor Young there at the moment but to be honest he's a bit of a loose canon and might kill her for fun if no one supervises him!" I nodded, it didn't seem too tricky a task, and left for the mansion.

On my way through the mansion I passed some thugs holding some Doctors captive, they cat called as I passed but I ignored them. What I didn't ignore however was the sound of them crying out in shock moments after I left the room. Batman was near; I had to be fast. I kept moving and was almost there when suddenly everything changed, the air went fuzzy and then I was in darkness. I could hear heavy breathing, feel a hand over my mouth. I couldn't breath. I started to panic. Bile rose in my throat. Not again, not again. A whispering voice...

"shhhh it'll be over soon. just stay quiet. shhh don't cry. shhhh they won't hear you anyway."

I knew what came next. I wanted to get away but I couldn't move something heavy was holding me in place, tears were streaming down my cheeks when, suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my side. The whispering stopped, the hand went away, the light came back.

I was lying on the floor of a side room in the mansion, curled up in a ball, my cheeks were wet with tears.

"You really do seem to be making a habit of barging into things don't you?" I turned my head towards the voice so sharply it hurt. Scarecrow, of course. "You're lucky I had some antidote with me or this could have ended very differently." that explained why it ended so suddenly at least. "What I can't help but wonder, is what you saw. Normally people try to run away but you, you just froze. So what was it? What did you see?"

"None of your business." I meant to say it considerably more violently than it came out, but all I managed was a feeble mutter.

"You'll tell me eventually."

"You wanna bet?"

"What were you even doing here anyway?" he asked as I stood up, steadying myself on a table.

"Joker sent me to check up on Zsasz, make sure he doesn't kill Doctor Young."

"Unfortunately I think that after your little nap the Bat may have beaten you there but by all means go ahead. You were out for 15 minutes by the way, just so you know." great, hopefully neither Zsasz or Batman had done anything yet.

When I got to the office I could tell I was too late, I could hear the low gravelly voice of Batman talking to Doctor Young. I'd never liked Young, she was a schemer, someone with hidden motives. You could hear it in her voice, loud with pride yet sharp with stress, tell tale signs. It was these things that made me feel no guilt when she went over to the safe I had rigged earlier on in the night. It was a loud blast and when I walked over to both of them I could see she was dead, not the Bat though, he was just out cold.

"I do pronounce the good doctor dead!" the Joker was here. "I felt Batsy deserved a wake up party so I brought some friends" a group of Blackgate thugs appeared from around the corner. Around about then Batman started to wake up. I zoned out whilst Joker talked at him, it had been a long night and I was tired. I was jerked sharply back to attention when I was mentioned however.

"Wraith, I think it would be good practice for you to stay here and occupy Bats" it seemed I was Wraith in front of the Batman, which was fine by me. Fighting Batman however was a more daunting prospect, and there was no backing out now.

I let some of the thugs go in first and when his back was to me jumped on him, I anchored my arm round his throat and started to choke him, he flipped me off but was too slow in blocking one of the thug's bats. Whilst he was still disorientated I swiped my leg around to trip him up, I reached for my knife and slashed at him, leaving a gash along his jawline. I drew my arm back to go in for a deeper stab but he caught my wrist as I brought it down and twisted my arm until I dropped the knife with a gasp of pain. He then pushed me off of him with enough force that I flew several meters. In the time it took me to get back up he had taken out the rest of the thugs leaving me alone, the last one standing. In desperation I charged at him releasing a series of quick kicks and punches. He let out a strong right hook knocking me backwards several paces, I tried to bring a punch upwards to catch him on the jaw but he again caught my wrist. He jerked me towards him whilst simultaneously bringing his armoured kneecap up to connect with my temple in what seemed like slow motion. I heard a crunching noise and then everything went black.

When I came to I was in my room, which was odd.

"Do you always spend this amount of time unconscious?"I sat up quickly, a move I soon regretted as my head felt as if it had been torn open. "I wouldn't do that unless you wish to make it a third time in one evening." it had to be him.

"Why are you here Crane?"

"I had some time spare so when I heard the explosion I went to see what was happening" his neutral expression turned to a smirk "and had the joy of witnessing the Bat use your head for extra ball practice. It looked painful, I almost felt sorry for you."

"I'd like to see you do better"

"Stay conscious and you might just get to." much more slowly this time I sat up and swung my legs around and off of the bed. I looked up at my monitor and saw Batman making his way,incredibly slowly I must say, through the penitentiary. I couldn't help but notice that Ivy was still imprisoned there and quickly made up my mind to go help her.

"As much as I would love to stay and chat, I need to go and set up a trap for the Bat. No doubt we'll inevitably cross paths again." by the time I turned to reply he was already gone.

I got to Ivy's cell just in time to find Harley letting her go.

"Honestly, you wait all night for someone to cut you loose and then two come along at once" she was smiling while she said it though. "I'm glad you're okay, I was worried about you when I heard what was going on."

"You shouldn't worry about our Curly here Red, she's been doing a fine job of looking after herself!" not so much, if you include Batman, but i'd tell them about that later.

"I had some good training." I told Harley with a smile, who then pulled both me and Ivy in for an impromptu hug.

"Harley, I can barely breath!" Ivy sounded put out but she was fighting a smile "besides I need to go, my babies need me!" Harley finally released us.

"True and I 'spose I better be going, you should too Curly B-man's gonna be through that door any minute now!" with that Harley dashed out of the room leaving me and Ivy.

"you need any help?" I asked.

"I may do. They're in so much pain I can't stand it." I put my hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"Lets go save them then."

We walked in silence for several minutes, both of us on alert for any of the zombie-like crazies that had been set free, several tried to jump us but we dispatched of them easily.

"You know, when you get a free moment your plant is waiting for you."

"She is?"

"Yeah I left her up in my room."

"We'll have to remember to get her before we leave this place."

"We?" she raised an eyebrow at me.

"You didn't think i'd leave you behind did you? Besides, I suspect Harley has plans for us."

"Yeah she mentioned something about that earlier..." We were on the steps to the Gardens by this point and Ivy paused just before the doors as if something was stopping her. She turned to look at me.

"Thank you."

"For what?" I was confused at what she was saying.

"For understanding." she stared at me for several seconds longer before opening the door and leading the way in.


	7. Chapter 7

As soon as we entered the Gardens Ivy started dashing to and throe stroking and muttering to the plants, all I could do was follow her and keep an eye out for unwanted guests. After a while she collapsed at the foot of a large tree, continuing to stroke it as she did so, and looked up with me, her eyes glistening with tears. It made my heart ache to see her so upset and I wanted so badly to help her. I went over to where she was sitting and put my arm round her, she rested her head on my shoulder and I started to stroke her hair, making soothing noises as I did so.

"What can I do to help?" There had to be something.

"I need to cure them somehow, find a way to reverse the damage." she looked deep in thought, desperately trying to remember something that would help. I knew as soon as she had her brainwave because her whole face lit up with hope. "In the sewers!"

"What's in the sewers?"

"A plant, a special plant. If we can just get a hold of it I can formulate it into an antidote or maybe even get the Bat to do it for me!"

"I'll go get it now, you stay here and look after the plants." She looked concerned then.

"Wait, you can't go down there."

"Why the hell not?"

"Killer Croc is down there. While I don't doubt your ability to take care of yourself, Croc is another matter entirely. He'll tear you apart." I've never considered myself to be the type to scare easily but that got to me. It didn't matter though, we needed that plant. I gave Ivy a reassuring smile.

"Well then, I'll just have to make sure he doesn't see me." It didn't do much to put her mind at ease but she agreed to let me go. Before I left though I needed to ask a favour.

"Ivy, Harley mentioned that you were able to give her immunity to toxins and , well I had a slight accident earlier with Scarecrow, one which i'd rather not repeat."

"What did that male meatsack do to you?" she had gotten the wrong end of the stick and seemed to think Crane had done it on purpose.

"No, it was an unfortunate accident! Honestly I just wasn't careful enough when navigating my way through the mansion."

"Either way I shall be having sharp words with him. However you are right, it would be nice to spare you from that very human vulnerability." her lips curled when she said the word human as if it were a deeply offensive word to her."Close your eyes, this won't hurt." I did as she asked and I felt a warm prickling sensation going through my body, it wasn't painful just, odd and a little uncomfortable. "You can open your eyes now Genevieve, you won't be getting any more trouble from toxins I promise."

"Thank you Ivy..." but she cut me off, putting her hand up signaling silence before looking at me her face creased with worry.

"Batman is on his way over here. You mustn't be here when he arrives, but please stay safe, I don't want to lose you."

"I'll be back before you know it" we hugged quickly before I got up and ran out of the room, I wouldn't let her down.

In order to get to the sewers I had to go through intensive treatment, this was the part of the island I was the least familiar with because it had the highest security. Despite that I had been in there quite a few times albeit accompanied every time, this time it was different though. Not only was I alone but the entire place was deserted, that creeped me out more than anything, it was too quiet and I could practically hear my own blood flowing round my body. I hated the silence, always had, so I had to fill it as I went along by singing softly to myself under my breath, it didn't occur to me that sound traveled easier in quieter places and someone might overhear. My senses were hypersharp because of the tension in the air and I was jumping at even the slightest movement. Because of this I pretty much hit the floor when an agonized screech tore through the silence, I didn't recognize the voice at first but as more cries of pain echoed through the halls I realised who it was. Ivy. I froze on the spot in shock. Another scream, this time morphing into hysterical laughter, I couldn't contain myself.

"IVY!" I screamed and turned to run back towards the Garden's, I had to help her.

I had only taken a few steps when I was jerked backwards by an arm around my waist. I felt a sharp object that felt like a knife pressing into my back and a raspy breathing by my ear.

"Not so fast you little whore." It was Quincy. I had practically forgotten him in all the chaos of the evening, assuming that he'd either escaped the island or been killed. "You and I have some unfinished business, bitch." I felt him press a rough cloth to my mouth and a sickly sweet smell filled my nose, I started to feel woozy, my vision clouding and I soon felt myself slipping into blackness.

I woke up to the pain of a sharp slap to the face. I looked around to gage my surroundings and saw that I was strapped into one of the patient transfer boards, standing in front of me was Quincy. He slapped me hard across the face again, leaving a ringing in my ears.

"I'm awake!" I shouted at him angrily.

"I know." he gave me a sinister smile. "That was for fun."

"Interesting idea of fun you have."

"We're only just getting started." That didn't sound good, I didn't have time for this, I needed to help Ivy. Quincy turned away from me and reached out for the table next to him, which contained several rows of knives. He picked one up and turned to face me. "I believe you're familiar with the effects of one of these." he started to trace my face with the point of the blade. "much more elegant than a gun. You can keep your victim alive for longer too. So they can savour the feeling of excruciating pain." he then dragged the blade along my cheek bone leaving a deep gouge in his wake. I gasped in pain and as the hot, sticky liquid started to trickle down my cheek his smile grew, he was loving this. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of breaking though.

"Is that the best you can do?" he let out a growl and punched me hard in the stomach, knocking the breath out of my lungs. "You're pathetic Quincy." He picked another knife off of the table and slammed it into my right leg. Despite my best efforts to hold it in, I let out a scream of agony. He laughed at me.

"Not so strong now are we? You're completely at my mercy and there's nothing you can do about it." I just about managed to compose myself.

"I'm not afraid of you." I gasped, lying through my teeth. I was terrified. He grabbed me by the throat constricting the airflow through my windpipe.

"You should be. Do you have any idea how long I've been wanting to do this?" I couldn't breath, I was choking on nothing, my head was starting to feel heavy. "This is it Miss Arkham. You don't get up to walk away from this." The edges of my vision were going black. I believed him. I was going to die. I was going to die the same way my slide from sanity to insanity started; at the hands of a man.

Just as I came to this realisation something strange happened. Quincy's eyes grew wide and he let go of my throat. He violently turned me and positioned himself behind me as if to shield himself.

"Go away, go away or i'll kill her." He then pulled the knife lodged in my leg out with a sickening squelching noise, the pain was blinding and I bit my lip hard enough to produce blood in an, ultimately useless, attempt to stop the scream from leaving my mouth. He then held the knife up to my throat, so close he made a small cut, I could feel my blood dripping down my neck. I still couldn't see who he was talking to. Then I noticed the slight haze to the air. "I'm warning you, i'll do it!" Quincy sounded hysterical and by this point I was fully aware he wasn't bluffing.

"I don't doubt it Warden. Yet what I don't understand is why you are laboring under the conclusion that it will save you." His voice sounded different, somehow even colder and slightly metallic. From behind me Quincy let out a whimper, which turned to full out sobs as the figure behind the voice walked out into the light. The eye holes of his mask were glowing and his breathing emphasized, presumably so that the victim of his attack would perceive him with the maximum amount of fear. "Now Warden, do you really want to test me? Because we both know that Miss Arkham was correct in calling you pathetic, you'll break long before I do." Quincy took in a deep breath and in one quick motion plunged the knife into my shoulder and pushed me towards Scarecrow, who caught the board just as I felt myself blackout from the pain.


	8. Chapter 8

When I woke up I was floating. Not literally, it just felt like I was, I tried to stand up but it felt like the world was moving around me.

"I had to give you a lot of extremely strong medication so that you'll be able to get through the rest of the night. It will have effected your field of perception somewhat and left you feeling disorientated." as he was speaking to me I managed to focus on his face, he had taken his mask off and his dark brown hair underneath was all messed up from the mask. He actually had remarkably delicate features which were seemingly at odds with his personality. That was when I remembered what had happened.

"Where is Quincy? I'm going to kill him slowly and painfully." the effect of this statement was partially hindered by me tripping on a flat floor at that point.

"While I don't doubt he will get what he deserves, either from you or one of the many people, myself included, who want him dead, you are not exactly performing at maximum capacity at the moment."

"I beg to differ, i'm perfectly fine to hunt him down right now." he just gave me a pointed look while it took me multiple attempts to get back up. Then I remembered the screaming. "Ivy. I need to get back to the gardens, she needs help!"

"right now the only thing that will help Ivy is getting the plant to create the antidote for her."

"How do you even know about that?"

"The same way I knew that Quincy had you." it seemed this guy was full of surprises.

"Nygma tipped me off." well that did make sense. "He seemed rather distraught at what was going on between Quincy and you, I suspect he might have himself a slight crush." apparently the painkillers were now causing me to hear things too. "actually I said exactly what you think I said. Also you said that last bit out loud." Great. "Now before you start complaining and do something idiotic, as it happens it is in my interests to help you right now. You want the plant, the Bat wants the plant and I want the Bat. So I will distract the winged moron, keeping him out of your way so you can go after the plant undisturbed. Though why on earth you are even contemplating going in there I don't know, entering Croc's lair is a suicide mission." I laughed bitterly, just when I was starting to think I had misjudged him he proved my original conclusion, that he was a cold hearted, emotionless, selfish, douche bag ; to be true.

"You really don't have a clue do you?" he raised his eyebrows and started to contradict me but I cut him off "I'm doing it because I care. This is what people do for those they care about. Not that you would understand that."

A short while later we were in position, the drugs weren't effecting me quite as strongly now, apart from the occasional moving surface. I was poised by the entrance to the sewers where I would wait for Crane to show up once he had taken out Batman with his toxin. We would then part ways and I would continue into the sewers to retrieve the flower. What could go wrong?

Half an hour later I was getting nervous. He should have finished with Batman by now, so where the hell was he? I soon received my answer, I heard the pounding of his footsteps before I saw him. When he came sprinting round the corner I knew something was terribly wrong.

"What happened?"

"He somehow broke free."

"What?!"

"I don't know okay? It shouldn't have been physically possible, I gave him multiple doses. He should drooling wreck on the floor by now!" This was bad, very bad. "He's heading this way, we need to move."

"What do we do now?" I was panicking, my previous encounter with Batman had left me with a vividly clear idea of what he was capable of, and that was before I was stabbed multiple times.

"I have an idea. It should get the Bat off of your back, and as for the flower you should be okay to leave the retrieval of it to him." We entered into the sewer and Crane pulled a bag out. "I need you to hide in one of those alcoves until everything is over, don't alert the Bat to your presence. You are in no shape for another fight." At another time I would have retorted to his dig but right now he was right, I could barely walk straight.

"What's in the bag?" my curiosity got the better of me.

"Enough toxin to reduce the majority of Gotham into a legion of mentally broken crazies." well that was quite the distraction. We heard footsteps approaching, he was here. "Quickly. Hide!" I crouched in the shadows of the alcove to watch what would happen next. It was only once Batman had entered the room that I realised Crane hadn't said how he planned to get away.

The next few minutes went by in a blur. I assumed that Crane was going to give Batman the bag and run for it, but I was wrong. He was shouting too loud, he wasn't stupid and must have known that it was vital to keep the noise low when in Croc's lair, what was he playing at? Then it happened. When Croc burst out of the water and grabbed him the only thing keeping me from crying out his name was the fear that held me frozen in place. I saw Batman throw a batarang at Croc to get him to drop him but it wasn't enough. My green eyes connected with Crane's blue ones for a split second before Croc dragged him down into the water and out of sight.

I stayed where I was for what seemed like ages. Even after Batman left. I didn't know what to do next, the plan hadn't worked and now I was relying on Batman to save Ivy. I was horribly injured, out of control, helpless and without a clue of what my next step should be. There were only 3 places on this island I felt truly at home, the gardens, my room and Ivy's cell. Since the gardens were clearly a no go for the time being and I doubted I could make it over to the mansion on my leg, that only left Ivy's empty cell.

It took me agonisingly long to get over to the penitentiary, my only saving grace was that I didn't need to worry about the deadly spores, thanks to Ivy. When I got to Ivy's cell I collapsed from a mixture of exhaustion and pain.

"I need to find a way off of this island, so that when Ivy's cured we can make a run for it." I was now talking to myself, partly to fill the silence and partly because it made it sound like I wasn't so alone."But I can't do very much like this" I said looking down at my leg, I let out a cry of frustration and hit the glass of the cell."If only I could find Harley."

"You know, I may just be able to help you with that." Never before had I been so relieved to hear such a smug voice.

"Eddie!"

"The one and only! I couldn't help but notice you were having a bit of a crisis and since i'm such a nice guy I decided to intervene!"

"So, what do you have for me?"

"Many things my dear, but right now I can tell you darling Harleen is locked up just over the other side of the penitentiary and I can get her out for you once you get there." My heart picked up its pace as finally I received this bit of good news.

"Edward Nygma you wonderful, wonderful man!"

"I know, I know. It's a public service I provide!" I hobbled as quickly as I could over to where Eddie had told me Harley was trapped.

I couldn't contain my joy when I saw her.

"Harley!" She looked up at me, her eyes were red from crying but she still smiled at the sight of me.

"Curly, I can't tell ya how glad I am to see ya!"

"Wait a sec and we'll get you out of there. Eddie, anytime now!" he let out a chuckle and then the doors to the cell Harley was in opened.

"Thank you Eddie!" we both chorused and then Harley threw herself at me for a hug. I winced a little when she touched my shoulder, bringing her attention to my injuries.

"Jeez, Curls what happened to you?" she said whilst looking over the various wounds I had received since we'd last seen each other.

"Quincy happened." her expression darkened.

"I'll kill him."

"Join the club." clearly the tone of my voice was a little off because she gave me an odd look.

"What is it Curly? What else happened?" I had to tell her about Ivy.

"Oh god Harls it's Ivy, she's hurt. That's why all the plants are around the place, I went to get the antidote but Quincy got me, then Crane stopped him and we had a plan to get the plant but but it went wrong and now i'm relying on Batman to get the antidote to cure Ivy and Crane's dead." Harley gave me a grave look then.

"It's gonna be okay Curly ya hear me? We just need ta keep it together and we'll find a way." she put her arm around me, careful not to touch my bullet wound in my shoulder. I couldn't try to stay strong any longer I put my head on her shoulder and we both held each other as we processed what had happened.


	9. Chapter 9

When we arrived at the Botanical Gardens the whole place was a mess, however if we were worried that we'd have trouble finding Ivy we were wrong, all we had to was follow the sound of her destruction. We burst through the door to the glasshouse just in time to see Batman take her out. As she fell I started to call her name but Harley clamped her hand over my mouth.

"shhh Curly, we don't want B-man knowing we're here!" We stayed hidden until he had left and then quickly scaled the decent down to Ivy. We saw her crumpled on the ground, showing barely any sign of life and knelt down, one on each side of her and took her hands.

"Red? Red can you hear me?"

"Ivy talk to us!" she was quiet for a long time but eventually with great effort opened her eyes to look at us.

"Harley you're back! Genevieve thank goodness you're okay,I was so worried!"

"Told you I would be." I smiled

"She's one tough cookie is our Wraith here!"

"So you're Wraith then?"

"Yeah,decided I should get myself a name."

"I like it, it suits you." she burst into a violent coughing fit then.

"Red come on now,we've gotta get you out of here!"

"No. You two have to leave me."

"What do ya mean? We're not leavin' without you" Harley shrieked

"You have to. For one i'll slow you down, and besides I need to stay here so I can get the antidote from Batman." It was hopeless, we were gonna have to leave her, she needed that antidote.

"Ivy we'll come back for you when you're healthy again, you won't be alone." I meant it, she was my friend and I wouldn't abandon her. "You once asked me what I was willing to do to get what I was after. Well I think I know now, I want to be free and i'm willing to give up everything i've ever been to get it. I promise you I won't forget about you Ivy."

"We'll think of something Red, you know we will!" we were still holding her hands as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Harley and I walked out into the night air and sat on the steps to the gardens.

"What we going to do?" I asked.

"Well the only thing I can think of is if you stay here but not as an inmate, like you were before tonight."

"How are we gonna work that? There's no way Quincy won't rat on me!" Harley looked thoughtful for a second.

"You said he had you in one of the therapy rooms right?"  
"Yeah..." I didn't see where she was going with this

"Well then surely we can access the footage in the security camera?"

"And blackmail him! You genius Harley!"

"Well I did used ta be a Doctah here ya know!"

We rushed to my room in the mansion as quickly as we could and started searching through the security footage until we found it. There were me and Quincy in the room he had the knife out and was taunting me with it, then from the camera just outside the room we saw Crane run up without the mask on and look in just in time to see Quincy slam the knife into my leg.

"Wow Jonny boy there sure looks angry, told you he didn't hate you!" he did look angry but not for long as he put the mask on then and entered the room. "This footage is perfect, we can use it to get Quincy to agree not to rat on you and you can stay living here. Then when you turn 18 you can take this place for yourself!"

"How do we get him here to talk though?"

"We don't need to. We just need to contact him."

"I can hack the frequency to his pager!" I rushed over to my laptop and started working until I got the right frequency. "now we just message him"

I have footage of you torturing me and **will** use it if I have to.

If you rat on me to the police it **will** distributed.

I **will** remain in my position here at Arkham no arguments.

- Genevieve

With the message I included and attachment of a copy of the footage so he would know I was telling the truth.

"Do you think it'll work?" I asked Harley

"Yeah I do, that old man is so greedy he won't let anything like that get around, it would ruin his chances of becoming mayor!" We sat on my bad to wait for his reply. "What's wrong Curly? It's all worked out okay!" In truth seeing that footage had reminded me of what happened in the sewer, brought it back, and it hurt.

"I just don't understand why Crane went in the sewer at all, he didn't need to. Is getting one up on Batman really worth risking your life?"

"I dunno maybe he wasn't doing it for that?"

"He was."

"Jonny always was a complicated guy. Who knows what was going through his head, but it wasn't your fault Curly, so don't go blaming yourself." I nodded to her and was about to reply when my laptop pinged with a message.

Understand this **bitch.**

The moment you release that video I** will** tell the police

everything you've done tonight. But for now you're

safe.

"We did it Curly. You're gonna get your home back!" I walked over to my window and stroked Ivy's plant.

"Yeah, and i'm gonna fight Quincy for every inch of it. He isn't gonna keep my Asylum from me." Over by the visitor center we could see things coming to an end.

"We need to make you look innocent. So the cops can't work things out for themselves."

"you're right. I'll erase the rest of the camera footage and you find something to tie me up with." Harley left to find something and by the time she had gotten back I had erased all trace of my actions; well all but one. I had burnt a short recording onto a disc, but that was for another time.

"Got some rope Curly, I hope what you got in mind isn't too kinky!"

"It's so I look like i've been taken captive Harley. Tie me up and run before they can get you."

"But what about you Curls?"

"I'll be fine, just take care of yourself until I see you again okay Harls?" She pulled me into a hug

"I will Curly and just you wait, we'll get our girls hideout someday!" We saw lights heading towards the mansion from the window.

"Quickly Harley!" She expertly tied my hands behind my back and my legs together before gagging me and spray painting a Joker smile onto my front to put me further into the clear. As we heard voices from the hallway she placed a quick kiss on my forehead and disappeared out the window. I fell back onto the bed and finally stopped fighting the pain and weariness, I let the darkness claim me just as the voices burst into the room.

When I woke I was in a clinically white bed in Gotham general hospital. The papers were calling Quincy a hero and me a victim, we both got what we wanted; for now. There was a single blue orchid by my bed, with a note lying next to it saying "get well soon Miss Arkham" It wasn't signed.


	10. The Aftermath

**Thank you to anyone who has read my story, I loved writing it and sharing it means a lot to me! Here is a short aftermath which covers the year between the two games, I plan on starting a sequel very soon! - Katy xxx**

* * *

It had been almost a year since that night. Arkham wasn't fit to live in so I was now staying in Gotham city, I had gotten my own apartment for the time being until I could move back in. I spent a great deal of time on the island though, visiting Ivy, Eddie and even the Joker once or twice. Harley was out for 6 months before been caught again, we spent a lot of time together in the time she was free, continuing my training, planning how I was to get the asylum from Quincy and just spending time together. I was now well on my way to becoming an expert swordsman and one of the best knife around.

Quincy had become mayor and handed the running of my asylum over to a man named Hugo Strange, something I was very angry about. In fact we were currently in the middle of a heated and extremely public legal battle over the running of the asylum. They were claiming that due to my medical condition I was incapable of running the place, a medical condition that had now been officially confirmed for the public, I was diagnosed with severe bipolar and schizophrenia. I claimed that I could manage my illness and that it actually made me a better contender for running the place, I would win my inheritance back if it killed me, and I would put an end to this "Arkham City" bullshit. The fact they even dared to use my name was an insult. It was safe to say relations between me and the two men were...delicate.

I was currently working with Harley and Ivy to break them out and plans were going swimmingly. I had also voiced my opposition to Arkham City alongside Bruce Wayne and we were co-heading a campaign against it.

I never found out who gave me rose but I had encased it in glass and had it by my bed, I fell asleep every night looking at it. Not that I stayed asleep. I had been plagued by increasingly disturbing nightmares over the past few months and I hadn't told anyone about them, not even the girls. In order to combat this I had taken up a string of lovers and the press were calling me Gotham's heartbreaker, except that implied those men had hearts to break. They were trying to use me for fame and money, I was using them as a distraction from the nightmares which had started to bleed into my waking mind. I was fracturing from the inside out.


End file.
